Sarasota Chess Academy July Open

On Sunday July 1, fourteen players participated in the Sarasota Chess Academy July Open. Jeff Ward won the tournament with a perfect score of 4 out of 4. Jeff had not played regular games over the board for over 2 years but often plays online on chess.com. Although his play was a bit rusty at times, he overplayed his opponents each time again under time pressure. Because of his tournament victory Jeff sees his regular rating improve from 2069 to 2084, a new all-time high for Jeff. So, for all players who are sitting on the bench because they are afraid to lose rating points, Jeff provided a good strategy to reenter: play online to get tactically sharp again and then pick up over the board games again.

The battle between Steven Leverich and Jeff Ward for first place. With less than 5 minutes on the clock Jeff decided the game in his favor by first trading pieces and subsequently attacking Steven’s weakened pawn structure on the king side.

Place

Name

Rtng

Rd 1

Rd 2

Rd 3

Rd 4

Tot

1

JEFFREY WILL WARD

2069

W8

W5

W2

W3

4.0

2-4

STEVEN LEVERICH

1906

W10

W4

L1

W7

3.0

ADALBERT SHLESINGER

1890

W12

W6

W5

L1

3.0

CHRISTOPHER KORDA

1613

W11

L2

W8

W9

3.0

5-9

JOHN M PALIWODA

1711

W9

L1

L3

W10

2.0

RICK KNOWLTON

1479

W13

L3

L9

W11

2.0

DANIEL HERSEY

1423

W14

L8

W12

L2

2.0

NICHOLAS LEWIS

1391

L1

W7

L4

W12

2.0

JACK ZHOU

949

L5

W14

W6

L4

2.0

10-11

ROHAN DASH

1010

L2

D11

W14

L5

1.5

SHAWN PATR MARREN

916

L4

D10

W13

L6

1.5

12-13

BENJAMIN JIANG

968

L3

W13

L7

L8

1.0

JEI HERSEY

569

L6

L12

L11

W14

1.0

14

JONAH HAE CANNON

684

L7

L9

L10

L13

0.0

Second place was shared between Steven Leverich, Aldabert Shlesinger and Christopher Korda all with 3 out of 4. Four players shared first place under 1600: Rick Knowlton, Dan Hersey, Nicolas Lewis and Jack Zhou. Congrats to all.